Border Gateway Protocol Security

Published

July 17, 2007

Author(s)

D. Richard Kuhn, Kotikalapudi Sriram, Douglas Montgomery

Abstract

This document introduces the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), explains its importance to the internet, and provides a set of best practices that can help in protecting BGP. Best practices described here are intended to be implementable on nearly all currently available BGP routers. While a number of enhanced protocols for BGP have been proposed, these generally require substantial changes to the protocol and may not interoperate with current BGP implementations. To improve the security of BGP routers, the recommendations listed below are introduced. While the recommendations can contribute to greatly improved BGP security, they are not a complete defense against all threats. Security administrators and decision makers should select and apply these methods based on their unique needs.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-54

Report Number

800-54

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Superceded By Publication

Resilient Interdomain Traffic Exchange: BGP Security and DDos Mitigation

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Keywords

BGP, Border Gateway Protocol, computer security, routers

Citation

Kuhn, D. , Sriram, K. and Montgomery, D. (2007), Border Gateway Protocol Security, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=51195 (Accessed October 14, 2025)